Roof Torching Mortar

Bats do not pose a significant threat to the building fabric or the health of the occupants and under section 9 of the wildlife and countryside act 1981 it is an offence to intentionally damage destroy or obstruct access to any place used by bats even when bats are apparently absent or to disturb bats while roosting.

Roof torching mortar.

Torching on pitched roofs is not to be confused with torch on felt used for flat roof construction. The torching on clay tile roofs contributed to securing them in the days before nibs were added to hold them on the wooden battens. In the days before roofing felt torching or lime mortar was used on the underside of tiles or slates to keep them in place and to prevent strong winds from getting under the tiles and lifting them. Main office the forge brightling road robertsbridge tn32 5hd phone.

Traditional buildings did not have bituminous underfelt beneath the slate or tile roofs. A common repair to slate roofs is to apply torching a mortar fillet underneath the slates attaching them to the battens. Renewing torching is a specialist task. This mortar and the process is called torching.

This may applied as either a repair to hold slipping slates or pre emptively on construction. Instead a soft sticky mortar mix was used both to help secure the slates and also prevent draughts. It is not uncommon to find that bats use a roof space. A mix of lime mortar mixed with horse hair is often used for this task.

Originally the only recognised roof under coating was the application of sand lime mortar reinforced with animal hair applied to the headlaps of double lapped slates or tiles. It is common for the torching to deteriorate and for pieces to fall away from the inside of the roof.